What Is Negative Space?

In graphic and UX design, negative space refers to the area surrounding the primary objects (or positive space) in a scene or graphic representation. Negative space has many uses in design, and knowing more about it offers a variety of benefits. Get a more detailed definition of negative space, find out where the term negative space comes from, and learn why it's important for designers and more. 

What is negative space?

Designers create scenes that revolve around primary objects like images, graphics, or text, so to understand negative space, think of it as all the area that surrounds these objects. Negative space complements and balances positive space to make the designer’s message clearer and more compelling. 

Where does the term negative space come from?

The term negative space originates from photography. If you think of a familiar photo, the positive space includes the object or objects that make up the focal point of your photo, and the negative space includes all of the space around the focal point. 

The importance of negative space in graphic and UX design

To create eye-catching designs, graphic artists and UX designers make use of multiple design principles. One of these principles—negative space—plays an important role in the readability, arrangement, balance, and tone of a scene or graphic representation. In other words, it can help make the design more attractive and the viewing or reading experience more pleasant.

How to see negative space

When viewing a particular scene, shift your perspective by thinking of the space surrounding the primary object or objects like a stencil. To train students to see all the parts of a scene (positive and negative space), art teachers often ask students to focus on negative space in art by drawing or painting the space around an object instead of the object itself.

Why is negative space used in design? 

Graphic and UX designers use negative space for a variety of reasons. It can help:

• Improve readability: Using negative space to break up blocks of text helps improve the readability of web pages, infographics, product labels, and more.

• Reduce reading time: Negative space contributes to visual hierarchy, a principle used to arrange design elements based on importance to the viewer. Surrounding important elements like headers with negative space helps readers find the information they need quickly. 

• Add balance: A balance between positive and negative space can help gain a reader's attention by breaking up text on a page, and it can elicit a calming effect by reducing clutter. 

• Set tone: The tone of a design can change based on the use of negative space. For instance, a designer creating a page displaying luxury jewelry might use a good portion of negative space to elicit a minimalist tone. A designer wanting to impart a sense of mystery might use negative space to hide an image or a secret message on a page. 

Related terms

• Mockup

• Digital design

• Graphic design

• Design management

• UI design

• UX design

• User journey maps

Explore UX design on Coursera

The use of negative space can help complement the primary objects in design and add a sense of order and balance. To explore how negative space fits into UX design and learn about other design concepts, consider taking an online course on Coursera. 

Through the UX Design Professional Certificate offered by Google on Coursera, you can learn about the user experience design process, build a foundation in UX research, and work on three UX design projects you can add to your portfolio. When you're finished with the course, you'll have a Professional Certificate to share.